Ramblings of a 20-Something
Archive for July, 2010
Reason #8,567 Why I Love Monica
Jul 27th
We had a room with two beds while we were in Maryland. This was because the rooms with one bed were either all taken or smoking rooms. We obviously can only use one bed at a time. On our first night there, Monica is laying in bed #1, turns to me and says with a giddy look on her face “Do you want to sleep in this bed tonight and the other one tomorrow?”
I love this girl. We’re getting married in less than three months.
They’re All Going to Be Somebody
Jul 26th
I apparently had nothing to do this past weekend so I went to Maryland. Just like that. Well, not really. I planned it ahead of time. Joe Ripple was holding open auditions for his upcoming film Jebediah. Stewie was going to be there along with a few other people from the HorrorTalk board and I was really interested in seeing the whole process at work so Monica and I trekked down to the Baltimore area on Friday night. On the way down, my check engine light came on again. (More on this later in a separate blog post.)
We got in late on Friday and crashed. Auditions started up at 9 the next morning. Monica went to try out the gym while I met Stewie and a few new faces (to me at least) downstairs. Joe, whom I’ve only spoken to online and on the phone once, walked by as I said Hello. Stewie said “Hey Joe, do you know who that is?” Joe turned back and said “I know who you are” and gave me a hug. It was sweet…and a little creepy. This would become the theme for the rest of the weekend. Fun!
Joe also asked me to read for a part which I politely declined to do (although he asked a few more times). I told him that I’m interested in coming down to see a day or two of shooting but our schedule is going to be too hectic in September when he’s planning to being production. We’ll have a month before the wedding and I’ll be crazy trying to keep Monica from losing her mind.
I’ve never seen open auditions before. This was an interesting process. People filled out their release form and then picked out a character to read for. Then they waited on line to be called in to a room with Joe, a couple of the actors that have already been cast, and a few other local directors to read. This went on all day. Stewie and I BS’ed throughout the day while we helped out. It was actually pretty cool.
We went out to Chili’s for dinner and I got to chat up Zig from HT for a bit about video stuff. I got some pointers on music videos that I will have to put to good use in the coming weeks for a project I’m working on for the Neon Gloworms.
The next day was more of the same but I made sure to get some pictures.
Monica and I ended up leaving around 3 or 4 to head home. We drove right through a crazy big storm. I’m really glad that we went down there even if we just hung out for a couple days. It’s stuff like this that reminds me that I have great friends that just live too far away. If only I could wrangle up all these people and keep them in a large prison like building and force them to hang out with me all the time. Then life would be so grand.
Goodbye Cable. Now Leave Me Alone!
Jul 20th
About a month ago I officially cut the cord. I received a notice from Cablevision telling me that my Triple Play deal (Phone, Cable, and Internet for $100 a month) was coming to an end. I wasted no time and called Cablevision to cancel my phone and cable. I had no real use for them anymore. We held on to the phone because we sent out wedding invites with our number on them. Absolutely no one called us so we didn’t see a need to hold on to the service. Plus we barely watch TV especially now that LOST is over.
My call was quickly answered and the guy on the other end tried to convince me to keep the services. He offered to extend the Triple Play deal which was tempting but I’d still be dropping an extra $50 for services I wasn’t using. He asked what I would be doing for cable, even basic. I explained that I purchased a digital antenna so I get the basic channels for free and I’ve hooked up a computer to my Television to watch things like Hulu and YouTube whenever I want. He didn’t have much of an answer to that. When asked about phone service, I pointed out that both myself and my fiancee had cell phones. The cable guy asked what I would do if the network went down. I told him if I needed to get in touch with anyone I would email them because I’d still have Internet service.
So with that, my service was turned off. My $100 bill was now half that. Despite what they said on their site, the Internet service isn’t $30 a month. That offer is only available for new customers even though they were ready to offer me the Triple Play deal and free HBO.
Fast forward to last week. I’ve now been without phone or cable for about 4 weeks and I haven’t noticed a change in my day-to-day activities. Friday afternoon I get a call from Cablevision. The woman on the line asks me what I’m doing for phone and cable. I explain my situation just like I did when I canceled the service. She allegedly didn’t know what Hulu was or that you can watch complete episodes of TV shows online for free whenever you want. I suggested she check it out. I also pointed out that I canceled the service less than a month ago and she had no real reply to that so the call was ended. Is Cablevision that unorganized that they’re calling me so quick after canceling? Or is this how their sales team works?
Let Hollywood Remake the World and Then Make a Sequel To It
Jul 19th
I got into an argument of sorts on Twitter with a friend from college. The topic of the debate was remakes, specifically the announcement that Hollywood is planning a remake of Gremlins. I am of the opinion that it doesn’t matter what movies get remade or what sequels to classics get pushed out of the studios. Hollywood is going to keep making these movies because they make money. It’s a fact. What I don’t understand are the reactions from people that seem personally offended that one of their favorite films is being remade. Why is this? Why do you care?
The fact of the matter is that despite a film being remade, it won’t in any way shape or form change your opinion of the original. It’s not as if when a remake comes out they destroy all copies of the original and erase the memories of the original from the minds of everyone that’s seen it. It still exists as its own movie just as the remake will exist. That doesn’t change the slew of anger-filled tweets and Facebook statuses that pop up whenever a new remake is announced though. Let’s remake everything. If it ever turned a profit, it should be remade now. Let’s remake Casablanca starring Zac Efron and Miley Cyrus directed by Brett Ratner. Make a sequel to Citizen Kane featuring his long lost son played by Andy Samberg. Who cares? The originals will still be held in such high regard. Plus when people find out it’s a remake or a sequel, they might be interested in seeing the original, thus opening them up to these classics that you love.
While on the topic of remakes, I’ve also heard people spout off about how there’s never been a good remake. That’s bullshit. John Carpenter’s The Thing? Remake. The Maltese Falcon starring Humphrey Bogart? That was the 4th time they made that movie. Ocean’s Eleven? The original starred Frank Sinatra!
Bottom line is, does anyone really care? Hollywood is going to keep pumping these movies out because they make money. The moment a remake doesn’t make money, they’ll rethink their current strategy. If it’s a remake of a film that you cherish and you’re offended at the very idea that Hollywood would reimagine it, then don’t see it. You have that power. Use it.
Watching Movies at Random
Jul 10th
As you may know, I have quite a few DVDs to watch. I buy rather than rent and as a result a lot of the DVDs I pick up contain content that I’ve never seen before. These blind buys are put to the side on a separate shelf for me to check out at a later date. I’ve been slowly working through them as it takes a helluva lot longer to watch each DVD than it does to buy them.
To make matters easier, I decided to put all the movies I haven’t yet watched into a list on Google Docs. Instead of combing through the shelf thinking about what I feel like watching, I open up this list and Random.Org and have it pick out a movie for me. So far I’ve knocked about a dozen or so films off this list. It’s sizable and there’s still quite a bit to go but I feel more organized now.
Please note, this list doesn’t include the TV series that I haven’t watched yet. Those represent an entire other shelf but they take a lot longer to get through than the movies.
The Adventure of Monica Talking in Her Sleep: Volume 1
Jul 5th
From time to time, Monica talks in her sleep. She rarely remembers it when I tell her about it in the morning, but it happens. She’s asked me to try to write some of these down so what better place to do it than here?
Just the other night, Monica got to bed before me. I stayed up and played Uncharted 2
That’s my girl.
No One Cares About Wonder Woman So Shut Up Already
Jul 1st
If you’re anywhere near as big as of a nerd as I am, you’re no doubt aware that Wonder Woman got a new costume this week as her comic finally hit 600 issues. The same month saw Batman and Superman reach the 700 issue mark. The reaction has caused a sudden surge in Nerd Rage all over the Internet. I don’t understand this at all.
First of all, these are comic books we’re dealing with. Costumes change for characters all the time. It’s a stunt to sell more issues and keep people talking. It’s happened with Spider-Man at least half a dozen times (Black costume, Iron Spider, That weird metal costume from the ’90s that lasted a single issue, the Scarlet Spider, I could go on), not to mention Superman (do I really have to bring up Electric Blue?) and tons of others. People talk about it for a little while and then after a few months everything goes back to normal because nerds hate change. This will probably happen to Wonder Woman as well. They’ve even thrown out the buzz words like “bold new direction” and “never be the same” which are always surefire signs that nothing will actually make a difference.
Aside from that, I don’t know what people are talking so much about this anyway. No one actually cares about Wonder Woman to begin with. Despite the fact that she’s one of the Holy Trinity at DC along with Batman and Superman, she’s relegated to the back seat. If the Big Three were the daughters of the Brady family, Wonder Woman would be Jan. Her comic has been canceled a bunch of times because readers stopped buying it. They only got to 600 issues after adding up all of the previous volumes of the comic to get there. Did they have to do that with Batman and Superman? Nope!
Yes, Wonder Woman had that TV show with Lynda Carter
So bottom line: Shut Up. Nerds freak out over change when everyone knows that the comic companies will just go back to the status quo within a few issues anyway because they want your money. Giving Wonder Woman pants is not going to destroy the character or ruin your life. They’re pants. Here’s a newsflash for you: Women have been wearing pants for decades. They don’t actually wear giant star covered panties. Deal with it.
